chapter 24. I love you!
1052 Words
The heavy weight of his limbs again her was comforting as he wrapped her in the security of his strength, and she began to feel that she could forgive any transgression so long as she could stil
touch him.
"I would have snatched you away from any man foolish enough to touch you," he promised her.grimly, "and broken his jaw. I don't think I could control myself if I saw someone kissing you, Ursula.
But I'd never walk away from you; I'd take you with me."
She shuddered and closed her eyes, recalling those awful moments when she had watched their embrace.
" Neither can I control myself, William ," she admitted hoarsely. "I can't bear to watch you make love to another woman. It tears me apart."
"Ursula!
It was the first admission she had made that she cared for him, even a little. Despite their closeness
Over the past weeks, she had still resisted him in that, had refused to tell him that she cared. Now she
could no longer hide it.
"Ursula! Look at me. Look at mel'" Fiercely he shook her and her eyes flew open to stare into his blazing, triumphant eyes. "Tell me," he insisted,
bending closer to her, his mouth poised above hers.
His hand went to her heart, felt the telltale pounding, and lingered to tenderly stroke the soft womanly
curves he found.
"Tell me," he whispered, and brushed his lips against hers.
Her arms went about his shoulders, clinging tightly to his strength as her own was washed away in the
floodtide of her emotion. "I love you," she moaned huskily. "I've tried not to-you're so .... arrogant . But I can't help it."
He crushed her to him so tightly that she cried out, and he loosened his hold immediately. "Mine,
he muttered, pressing hot kisses over her face
"You' re mine, and I'll never let you go. I adore you, darling.For weeks I've been halt mad with frustration, wanting you but afraid ot frightening you off
You 'll have no more mercy from me, you'll be my woman now!" And he laughed exultantly before he
sat up and helped her to pull her gown back up.
He zipped it for her, then his hard hands closed about her waist
"Let's leave now he said, his voice rough " I Want you so badly!"
Ursula shivered at the raw demand in his voice, elated but also frightened. The time had cone when he would no longer allow her to draw away from him, and though she could feel her heart blooming at his admission of love, she was still wary of this man and the control he had over her.
William sensed her hesitation and pulled her close to him with a possessive arm.
"Don't be frightened,"
he murmured against her hair. "Forget whatever has happened to you; I'll never do anything to hurt you.
You said that you aren't fnightened of me, but you are, I can tell. That's why I've suffered through these weeks of hell, waiting for you to lose your fear. Trust
me now, darling. I'Il take every care with you."
She buried her face against his shoulder. now was the time to tell him that she had never made love before, but when she gathered her courage enough
to raise her head and open her mouth, he forestalled her by laying his fingers gently across her bruised lips.
"No, don't say anything," he whispered " just Come with me, let me take care of you."
Her hair was a tumbled mass about her shoulders
and she lifted her hands to try to twist it up again.
"Don't bother," William said, catching her hand.
"You look adorable, if anyone should see you, but
we'll leave by the back way. Wait here while I make our excuscs to our host; I'll only be a moment."
Left by herself, Ursula sat dowm and tried to gather her dazed and scattered thoughts. William loved her, he had admitted it. Love was the same as
"adore," wasn't it? Certainly she loved him, but she was also confused and uncertain. She had always thought that a mutual declaration of love led to
sweet plans for the futre, but instead
William seemed to plan only on taking her to bed. she tried to tell herself that he was an extremely physical a and that afterward he Would want to talk about
wedding plans. It was Just that she had always dreamed, in her heart, of going to her husband in white, and of deserving the symbol of purity. For a
moment she toyed with the idea of telling William she didn't want to leave, but then she shook her head. Perhaps she had to prove her love for William
by trusting him as he had requested and giving him the full measure of her love.
Then it was too late to worry, because William came back, and she drowned in the possessive glow of his dark eyes. Her nervousness was swamped by
her automatic response to his nearness and she leaned pliantly against him as he led her out of the house by the back way and to his car parked down
the narrow, quiet street.
London was a golden city by night, gleaming like a
Crown on the banks of the Thames, and it had never
seemed more golden to her than it did tonight,
sitting quietly beside William as he drove through the
city. She looked at the familiar landmarks as if she
had never seen them before, caught by the untreatable loveliness of the world she shared with William .
He didn't drive her home, as she had expected, but instead they went to his penthouse. That alarmed her, though she wasn't sure why, and she
hung back, but he pulled her into the elevator and held her close, muttering hot words of love to her.
When the elevator doors slid open, he took her hand and led her down the quiet, dim hallway to his door.
unlocking it, he let her inside and followed, locking the door behind him with a final-sounding click. She had gone a few steps forward and now stood very still in the darkness, and with a flick of his finger he switched on two lamps.
- Writer
